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OU football: Lincoln Riley excited about 7 p.m. kickoff

OU has played five straight football games that kicked off at 11 a.m. The Sooners don’t mind those for road games. But for home games, they crimp the game-day atmosphere, from the tailgating experience for fans to the electricity in the stadium, and impede recruiting, since high school players are hard-pressed to reach Norman on Saturday morning after a Friday night game.

So the news Monday that the Sooners would host Iowa State at 7 p.m. on November 9 was welcome news to Lincoln Riley.

“We’re excited about it,” Riley said Tuesday during his off-week press conference. “We are. I would imagine our fan base is pretty excited about it, too. Great for recruiting. Good to just change it up a little bit. We’re looking forward to playing under the lights. There’s still never anything like that.

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley celebrates after a blocked punt during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla, Saturday, Oct. 19, 2019. Oklahoma won 52-14. [Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman]

Berry Tramel

Berry Tramel, a lifelong Oklahoman, sports fan and newspaper reader, joined The Oklahoman in 1991 and has served as beat writer, assistant sports editor, sports editor and columnist. Tramel grew up reading four daily newspapers — The Oklahoman,...
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